When in the Dark (Private)

[CableZ]

As the train clattered along the tracks, burning through the landscape of Equestria, the rolling green fields and beautiful mountain scenery. It was true, they had passed Canterlot just under an hour ago, and were now heading toward the town of New Saddle, but that was a few hours away at the moment, so for now they were moving through the vast fields of space between the mountains of Canterlot toward the town. Dread Lock was absent mindedly chewing on his chocolate bar, occasionally sipping his drink through a straw. He wasn't entirely part of the conversation going on, he was more just a shadow of his booth, his hair covering most of his face. The pair of train workers moved onto the next carriage along, leaving the group alone to themselves. Dread wasn't sure what to make of the current state of affairs, seemed the pony who had been asleep had missed his stop or was on the wrong train, then there was the Griffon opposite him who had started the conversation, who seemed to be talking out of a need almost. Then there was the mysterious purple pony, who seemed as disinterested in conversation as Dread, although more than likely for different reasons. Finally there was the goat, now Dread had actually met some goats before, he had in fact traveled to the Hircine homelands for a few research projects, so the goat was no new site to me, but he did find their way of talking a little annoying.

So Dread simply stayed silent, unnervingly so for some, he was a silent dark stallion with very strange hair, with the coldest eyes you may ever see. What was so unnerving about Dread was his gaze, it was emotionless, it was cold and just pierced through you. Looking around at each of the males on the carriage, Dread stared at them each individually for a while, before moving onto the next and then finally moving back to his note book. Pulling it from the table, placing his book down and resting the notebook in his elbow, he began writing some notes down, staying silent as ever, he wasn't even sure if the others had realized he hadn't said anything yet.

[Dream Gaze]

Dream Gaze was only on this train to do a bit of sight seeing and thus didn't see the point in answering Rook's question. It wouldn't have been interesting so with a simple shrug he went back to his book. Gearshift's situation and Augen's comment was enough to get a small laugh out of him before he added "He's right. You slept through our brief stop at Canterlot an hour or two ago. This train is going northeast and from what I heard the last stop is about 2 days away... it's a long journey indeed." The Alchemist took a drink of one of his bottles of water, frowning a little as it wasn't cool enough for his tastes. He gave the bottle a quick tap with his hoof, covering it in a thin layer of frost before he took another drink. Satisfied with the now ice cold water he placed the bottle down and was about to go back to reading but paused as he felt eyes on him... his amber gaze met the cold eyes of the stallion, who had yet to contribute to the conversation. It was strange... Dream Gaze had often stared like this at others during his youth. He other heard his classmates at the time commenting on how it gave them the chills. This was the first time he had seen the same stare returned to him without looking in a mirror... No... that wasn't quite accurate. Dream used to stare at others with a cold analytical look, often with a mix of emotions and a lack of empathy to those he was around. This stallion had no such emotion on his face. It was hard to get a read on him... almost like an automaton. '...Oh well. If Dreadlocks over there isn't going to talk he might be mute or not interested. I'm not one to interrogate a stranger... I'll wait for someone else to do it.'

[Nimbus]

Having heard Augen's intent on this journey he nodded with a look of intrigue, this one is one a mission of sorts, quite opposed to Rook's own lack of direction for this journey. Gear had just asked about sandwiches, to which Rook just shook his head, in truth he hadn't packed a lot, and planned just to buy food as and when he required it, that said, he didn't eat too much anyway, so hunger was not much of a problem. On some level it was somewhat amusing to hear that someone had missed their stop by such a margin as two hours, perhaps it was that his sense of humour often had him wondering why he thought something was funny on some level. Not that he would actively laugh at the unfortunate.

Rook was accustomed to rather cold demeanours and knew that cold, almost analytical stare that was given by the stallion sat opposite him, he knew , from the amount of times he had given the same look, that that was not the look of someone who was that interested in talking at the present time, it didn't seem at all malicious, but rather indifferent. Nonetheless he was taking more note of the conversation being had about a particular individual missing his train stop about two hours ago, quite a margin indeed.

Then someone had said that the journey would take approximately two days, he knew it was a long journey, but that long? Where on earth had he set himself off towards? The idea made him somewhat apprehensive of the future but at the same time rather excited at where it could be that they are going, it would almost definitely be a complete change of scenery

"Two days, huh? Well I'm just glad I packed some reading material. Knowing that it's such a long trip has got me wondering where exactly we're heading"

With that he started casually reading again, meaning he could maintain a decent conversation whilst reading, he had read the book several times before, but always took it on his travels with him, it became sort of a ritual, he had to have that book with him for any journey that didn't involve him flying there.

He started to wonder about the stallion opposite him, although it was out of character for Rook to talk so much, he had found himself doing it out of a necessity for some kind of calming technique when he was thrusted into a situation which would involve any interaction.

[darktobias13]

Gearshift went stone still the moment he heard that he had missed his stop. he realized that the situation was worse than he could think. He hadn't brought alot of money with him, having been on his way to get paid, and he had absolutely no idea where he was going. He didn't think he had enough money for a return ticket, and this meant that he would have to send a letter back home for them to send him the needed money, or to come get him. He also knew that most railways didn't have actual mail offices to use, so he would need to rely on the nearest town to send off the letter. He paced up and down the aisle a little bit, muttering to himself, cursing his carelessness in multiple languages. He sat back down and calmed himself.

Looking at the others, he decided the first step would need to be knowledge of where he was going. Reaching into his toolbag, he brought out his notebook, where he scribbled down notes and jotted rough maps of lands that he knew. Flipping to the right page, he gave an exasperated moan and rubbed his eyes. The section of the map that he needed to see was blank. He was really quite surprised about this, he thought he had traveled far and wide. Throwing the book back into his bag, he looked back to the others. "So then, i guess i'm stuck traveling to the nearest town at this far away stop. Since neither Rook or Augen know, Dream, you know where we are going? Or maybe you do, Silent one." He addressed the dark stallion. He didn't mean the title with mockery, he just felt it appropriate. "I don't mean to bother you, but do you have any clue where this train is heading?"

[Augen Horns]

The goat gave a slow slurp of his cup and closed his eyes, keeping a keen ear to his passengers. Augen's saddlebags remained heavy at his sides, and the thought occurred to him that he might as well relieve himself of his load. Unhooking a few straps and buckles, the weight of his cloaked containers crashed down at his sides, briefly exacerbating the turbulence of the traincar. The goat responded to the bang with a muffling cough before simply saying "excuse me" and continuing to sip his coffee.

Nonetheless, as much as Augen felt he understood the task at hand, if dawned on him that he actually knew almost nothing of the location: that was, after all, the job of those gone missing. Best, he thought, to keep a close listen if anyone knew anything. If the worst case scenario were to prove true, it'd be best not to go in blind. The goat closed his eyes and prayed in silence that whatever the missing scouts got themselves into, they'd at least be alive to regret it.

[CableZ]

It took Dread longer than he cared to admit to realize that he was the 'silent one' in this situation, but when he did realize he looked around for a moment before composing himself. Looking around at the eyes that were focused on him, Dread gulped slightly before he looked over a few of his notes to get a better grasp on how to answer the question. Because Dread was unsure how much they actually knew of where they were going, he opted to be quite literal about it, clearing his throat slightly, he looked around at each of them for a moment before letting out a sight and sitting back against the wall of the carriage so he could better look at them.

"The train is bound northeast, although it is not a straight line as it stops at most of the major cities on the way." This part was already pretty obvious, but reiteration never hurt anyone "The train will curve upward toward Detrot, then head straight easy to a small village near a large lake" He explained vaguely, the village itself wasn't on most maps, but the lake clearly was "From there I intend to take a carriage to the land of Tramplevania, an isolated land enclosed by the alps that share the same name" Dread dropped the name of his destination, Tramplevania was a land unknown by most, some had never heard of it, others had only heard of its existence, but it was universal that know one knew anything true about the land.

Rumours were hard to come by of the strange land, which is why most didn't know it existed, and why most didn't travel there. Dread went silent once more after that, simply looking to his note book for a moment before dragging it from the table and writing down it in quickly, scribbling some notes. As he finished speaking, the train noticeably began to slow as it pulled into the New Saddle train station. As the flurry of steam from the engine was kicked up and the train came to a halt. Dread turned to look out of the window for a moment before sighing and going back to writing, he had no cause to get off for awhile. They would be stationed for around 40 minutes before they set off once more, so the group would have to get comfortable.

[Dream Gaze]

"So then, i guess i'm stuck traveling to the nearest town at this far away stop. Since neither Rook or Augen know, Dream, you know where we are going? Or maybe you do, Silent one."

Dream Gaze looked up from his book after hearing the question but remained quiet as the dark stallion spoke up and explained what he knew of the train's final destination. It raised a couple of questions in his head... The Tramplevanian Alps was unknown territory according to most maps... He had travelled a lot and spoken with some travellers. Sometimes they shared their stories of various locations and the Alchemist would try to acquire ingredients for his potions or in the rare cases send a courier to go in his steed. His last conversation was with the exotic mercenary Jamais Seule. The Gazelle was unnatural with the amount of info she gained on the job and she did indeed share what she knew of the northern areas of the world, leaving him very sceptic of what he was told the Gazelle even added that it was most likely fiction brought up by paranoia of the unknown. Showing that she didn't believe it either. The Alchemist couldn't figure out why anypony would want to go to Tramplevania though... a place that may or may not even exist 'I guess explorers would want to go there out of curiosity... I'll admit I'm curious as well.' Dream Gaze still had to check if he could get a train back to Ponyville as soon as this one reached it's final stop. If he couldn't then he'd have to find a place to stay for the night. There was a few things that he felt he had to point out... what with the strange group's lack of information. "huh? I thought Tramplevania was just stories and folklore... No information about that place is solid fact. Nothing but myths and rumours..." The train eventually came to a stop and the Alchemist sighed... this was going to take longer then he thought and his mind couldn't focus on his work right now. He used his magic to retrieve a small checker board from his bag before looking up at the others in the train car and asking "I... don't suppose any of you want to play chess? Help pass the time."

[Nimbus]

Rook seemed somewhat surprised that the stallion had spoken up, nonetheless he was glad he had done so, giving some idea of where he was heading. His interest peaked greatly at the concept of heading to Tramplevania, somewhere he had read a little about and had always had a little interest in, if not because he liked mountainous regions, then because he had a great interest in places that not many knew about, he had always somewhat thought it a myth, or perhaps not existing at all

"Tramplevania… I'm sure I've read a little about that place somewhere in my book here, I guess the place must just be more than a story "

He said nodding to his book of stories, he wasn't really sure what the place was like, due to the lack of information that was available other than rumours and stories . He was excited at the idea of the place being real and wondered how much of the short story would prove to be true

One of the ponies in the carriage offered a game of chess, to which he respectfully declined. He admittedly lacked the patience to play chess, that and he couldn't honestly say he was interested by it, he wasn't really one for games, for that matter.

He decided, that now he was talking, Rook would address the stallion more directly about the journey, since now he knew where he was heading, he wanted to know as much as he could scrape together from the shards of information that were readily available about the place, rumour or fact it would help him understand where it was they were going

"I guess we're all going in a little blind, given the scarcity of the information about the place, but still, care to share what you know about the place already? I'm quite interested in hearing a little more than an old tale in an old book, and the occasional rumour"

[darktobias13]

Gearshift sat back in his seat, a look of thought on his face. “At least you’ve heard rumors and stories, Rook. In all my journeys, I’ve never even heard of such a place. If it’s truly that unknown, then I guess that this would be a good chance to add some info about it into my notes. Let me finish the map, at the least. I shall return in a second, might as well use the post office here to let my friends and sister know what’s going on. Thanks for the info mate.”

Gearshift ran off the train and galloped down the road to what he hoped was a post office. He spotted the mail pegasi and letters and gave a sigh of relief. He hastily scribbled a letter to Mira and Powderkeg, letting them know that he had made a mistake, and would be heading to a town called Tramplevania. He also put that he was going to need some money, and that he would send another letter from the far off town, so that they would have a return address to send the money to. Having done that, he tossed a bit to the mail ponies and threw the letter into the fast mail slot. He ran back to the train, searching for a few seconds through the cars, looking for his original one. Finding the others, he walked back to his seat and sank back into it. He looked back up at the others, and at Dream Gaze’s checkerboard. “I’ll take that offer, Dream. I’m always up for some chess.”

[Augen Horns]

Hmm, well at least some of the passengers knew something, even if that something was kinda nothing, Augen thought silently. Tramplevania, he mused, quietly whispering the name to himself... Nope. No familiarity. Augen had never heard a single word about this place before, as predictable of a foreigner, and from the sounds of it he doubted he was anywhere close to alone in that. Still the ominous nature of the supposed land made the disappearance of his former comrades all the more worrisome.

"... I've never been too fond of playing chess, but I'd quite enjoy spectating a round," the goat said after Gearshift had taken up Dream Gaze's suggestion. The identity of the familiar unicorn still nagged at the back of Augen's mind. It was almost as if the memory was... incomplete, for some reason. "... So there are rumors and heresay, but no actual facts known of this 'Tramplevania' place? Well, I mean... it has a name. Surely someponies must've at least gotten a look? A flyover? Anything," the goat asked, seemingly doubtful of his own speculations.

[CableZ]

Dread opted not to Augen's question, he seemed a little naive and Dread had been told he handled naivety in a cold manner in the past. So he just stuck to his notes while occasionally looking over his notebook to see what was going on, Dread noticed the chess board and confirmed in his head it was actually the game he was thinking of. Dread had never cared for the game, he thought so far ahead that the game kind of seemed to play in slow motion for him. Still he could see the appeal in watching, after all he didn't know what moves they were going to make.

That was how the trip went for the next few hours, relative calm and peace in the carriage. After around 4 hours, night had arrived an hour or so before. The brilliantly bright moon was still in the process of rising, while the stars in the sky shone bright. Because they were out in the countryside there were very few lights outside, as such the landscape was pitch black, you can only make it out when the horizon hit the light from space. Most of the journey felt like it was in a tunnel, but thankfully the carriages were well lit and even heated so it was more than a pleasant experience. Dread was admiring the night sky when he turned to look at Rook who was still sat opposite him.

"Um...so if you don't know where you're going...why would you chose a 2 day train journey..feels a bit odd" Dread wasn't one to intrude but this was something he hadn't been able to figure out for the longest time, seemed easier to ask.

the train continued to rattle along, soon they would arrive in Stalliongrad and they would attach some sleep carriages to the train so that the long term passengers could get some sleep.

[Dream Gaze]

“I’ll take that offer, Dream. I’m always up for some chess.”
"... I've never been too fond of playing chess, but I'd quite enjoy spectating a round."
Dream Gaze smiled "Then come over here and take a seat. I'll set up the pieces." He gestured to the empty seat's in his booth before using his magic to conjure the chess pieces onto the board, giving himself the black pieces and offering Gearshift the white. "Your move." he said before turning to listen to Augen.

"... So there are rumors and heresay, but no actual facts known of this 'Tramplevania' place? Well, I mean... it has a name. Surely someponies must've at least gotten a look? A flyover? Anything,"
"If somepony has been there, then I haven't met them... The possibilities about what the place could be are numerous, but it all comes back to 'we know nothing of it.' There is only one way to find out." During the game he struck up some conversation about his recent travels to the desert and expressed his curiosity about what they had been doing since he had last met them. He even jokingly asked "By the way... How is that head of yours Augen? You did face plant a wall when we first met."

Time passed by quickly for the unicorn. After a couple of games, Gearshift took victory at chess so he put the board away and decided to ask one last question for the inventor "Gearshift? Would you be willing to help me with some notes? I'm trying to work out the 'in's and out's' of magical constructs for a project. Interested?" It'll be something to keep them busy until they were ready to sleep later on in the evening.

[Nimbus]

Rook, noting the stallion sat opposite him taking interest, decided it would be a good time to explain himself somewhat

"Well, the idea of a long journey guarantees a change of scenery, I can't stand being in one place too long, I feel like there is too much to see and do in the world, and since I don't , as it were, have one specific home, I'm taking the opportunity to travel as much as I can while I can, a long journey sets me up in a whole new location, setting and I'm going to be far away from where I started, obviously"

Then he heard one of the other passengers ask about rumours, stories, facts anything, to which he referred to his fairytale book, which spoke of dark creatures, a land heavily steeped in mythos and rumour, even the book has a hard time distinguishing between stories as they intertwine into one another, it would appear the land is all but unknown about, other than a few old tales that talk of the dark ones that wander the cold nights, the spirits that wander, all manner of horrors that one would typically hear on nightmare night as a story to scare the young.

" Here, have a read at this book, It has a few short, but vague stories in there, clearly fairytales but you can't help but wonder how much is based on fact. I for one believe that they have some logical foundation in reality, but who am I to judge an old book of folklore, when I've never visited the place"

He offered the book to the one asking the questions, in the hopes that perhaps he had some thoughts on the stories he had heard, or that perhaps someone else cold either confirm or deny them, in that perhaps they had heard similar stories.

Rook hadn't noticed just how late it had become, and began looking out of the window at the night sky, it reminded him somewhat of home, the clarity away from the lights of a city, it was something to behold, and he simply sat admiring it until someone had something to say to him, he tried to recall constellations from memory, spotting a few now and then, as the train rattled on through the cold night

[darktobias13]

Gearshift sat back as he thought about Dream's question. He wasn't quite sure what was needed, but he decided he would help however he could. "Very well, mate. I really have nothing else to do for a while, let me get my notebook. It contains my equations and such after all. What exactly am i looking for? Or do you need me to design something?" Gearshift worked with Dream gaze for a while, before giving a yawn. Looking out into the night, he realized he was starting to recognize the landscape, very vaguely, since it had been a long time since he had returned to his home of Stalliongrad. Most ponies would like to look around their home town, given the chance, but Gearshift refused to go back to that town. It simply had too many bad memories connected to it, and he hadn't spoken to his family since he had run away. He turned back to Dream, "Listen, Dream. its getting late, I'm gonna go ahead and get some sleep, but i'll be happy to help some more tomorrow." Walking back to his original seat, he put his head back, and slowly fell back to sleep.

[Augen Horns]

Augen's ears perked at the griffon's reply, and his eyes wandered to the book Rook had revealed. "Ah, this shall be much enlightening, thank you good sir." Augen had considered taking him right up on the offer, but then considered the late hour and gave a slight bow. "I hope you don't mind, however, if I delay my uptaking on your offer until tomorrow morning. I find I read much better in the daylight. That'd not be an inconvenience, would it?" The goat gave another bow of his head as he asked the griffon this small question.

Dream's question to the goat would've seemed a simple one to most, such being those unfamiliar most likely. To Augen Horns, however, it triggered a jarring vision of past memories, incomplete and blurred. It was only after Augen realized what Dream was talking about that he'd also realized that it'd only been about a second since he'd been asked. "... My head is fine," the goat replied in monotone. This was a lie, although not by the causes one might suspect. "Now if you'll excuse me," he said, amidst brief instants of strabismus, "I must make use of the lavatory." Augen Horns got out of his seat and started to trot off, for some strange reason bringing his bags with him. "... I'll not be gone long."